k."

"But," pleaded Philip, "if I should succeed in rescuing you from the
peril that surrounds us, would you be more rigorous than destiny? Would
you not feel that God smiled upon our love, and that it was He who had
mercifully united us again?"

"Philip! Philip!" murmured Dolores. She could say no more, but yielding
at last to the sweet power of the love against which she had struggled
so long, she laid her weary head upon the heart that worshipped her with
such a tender and all-absorbing passion.

It was nine o'clock in the morning when the officer who was to conduct
the examination made his appearance. The expectations of Philip and
Dolores were realized. He questioned them hastily, listened to the
report of the sergeant who had arrested them, took a few notes, then
ordered the culprits to be sent, one to the Conciergerie, the other to
the Madelonnettes.

"Can we not be together?" asked Philip, filled with dismay by the
prospect of a separation.

"The Committee will decide. For the present, I shall be obliged to
separate you" was the officer's reply.

Philip approached Dolores.

"Do not lose courage," he whispered. "I shall soon rejoin you."

Dolores was to be taken to the Conciergerie.

Several gendarmes formed her escort. At her request, one of them sent
for a carriage. She entered it and her guards seated themselves opposite
her and on the box with the driver. To reach the Conciergerie, they
were obliged to pass the Palais de Justice. Upon the steps of the
palace, not far from the prison, was a crowd of women that assembled
there every day to witness the departure of the prisoners who were
condemned to death. They saw Dolores when she alighted from the
carriage, and immediately began to clap their hands and utter shrill
cries of delight. She was compelled to pass through a storm of hisses,
gibes and insults in making her way to the prison; and it was not
without considerable difficulty that the men acting as her escort
protected her from the infuriated throng. At last the dread door opened
before her. She was ushered into the office, a small room where the
prison register was kept. Her full name and age were recorded by the
clerk, and she was then placed in charge of one of the jailers, who was
ordered to find accommodations for her in that part of the prison over
which he had jurisdiction.

"I have two favors to ask of you," Dolores said to this man, whose
benevolent face inspired her with confidence